Tag: Behaviour

Dr Anna Piasecki is an Associate Professor of Psycholinguistics and the academic lead of the Brain, Language and Behaviour Lab. Anna has expertise in bilingualism, first and second language acquisition and adult language processing. Her investigations have spanned various areas of linguistics – including vocabulary, phonology and syntax – as well as the intersection between language, memory and cognition. The main focus of her current work is on applied research, with defined benefits for vulnerable and underrepresented populations.

Mr Will Singleton PhD, FRCS(SN) is a Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, which a Tessa Jowell Paediatric Neurooncolgy Centre of Excellence. As the paediatric lead at Brain, Language and Behaviour Lab, Will’s clinical expertise lies in paediatric neuro-oncology, epilepsy and functional paediatric neurosurgery, including deep brain stimulation and awake craniotomy. His research interests include paediatric neuromodulation and translational neurosurgery – specifically developing methods of direct central nervous system drug delivery and investigating their utility as novel therapeutic strategies.

Hajira Mumtaz is a PhD student at the BLB Lab. Her project focuses on the design of intraoperative tests with increased sensitivity and that can allow for more personalised, comprehensive and valid evaluation of speech function that is beyond single word testing. With a more specific and sensitive battery of language tests as the outcome of her project, Hajira hopes to contribute towards introducing intraoperative tests that can positively impact the quality of life of patients requiring brain tumour surgery. Prior to this, Hajira did an Erasmus Mundus joint MSc degree in Clinical Linguistics (EMCL+) at the Universities of Groningen, Potsdam and Eastern Finland.

Sonia Mariotti is a PhD student in the BLB Lab and Associate Lecturer at UWE. Her work is devoted to improving the quality of life of brain tumour patients through the preservation of their communicative abilities. Her research in awake craniotomy language testing focuses on bilingual patients and how to isolate and preserve bilingual components for successful communication. Sonia has previously worked in NHS stroke rehabilitation services, supporting patients with language and cognitive impairments. Her research activities at the BLB Lab are a continuation of her desire to bridge the gap between academia and clinical practice, to aid both practitioners and patients. 

Dr Margaret Newson, PhD, CPsychol, is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist who recently joined the Brain, Language and Behaviour Lab as an honorary Visiting Fellow after retiring from North Bristol NHS Trust. Her clinical work focused on diagnostic assessment, cognitive assessment during awake brain surgery and predicting neurosurgical outcomes. During her career, she has enjoyed working in various clinical teams with excellent colleagues, including Neurologists, Neurosurgeons, Neuropsychiatrists, Nurses, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists. Her research interests include improving measurement of cognitive functions, early diagnosis of dementia, and optimising outcome following brain surgery. 

Filipa Da Costa Gaspar is our absolutely brilliant illustrator, who has with the utmost creativity, patience and professionalism, created many hundreds of images for our clinical resources; first and foremost for BOATIM. Filipa studied BA(Hons) Animation at UWE and is now a self-employed production designer, 2D artist and illustrator.

Lydia Wiernik is an Honorary Research Associate at the BLB Lab. In her role, she helps out with stimuli creation, data analysis, and study design, and is always happy to contribute insight from her knowledge of signed languages. Her interests are in neurolinguistics and sign language linguistics, and especially the intersection of the two. While collaborating with the BLB Lab, Lydia has completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the influence of sign language acquisition on cognitive strategies for non-linguistic perspective taking, and the relationship between embodiment, multimodality, and the brain.

Aleksandra (Sasha) Trepalenko was an international student enrolled in the Erasmus Mundus European Master’s in Clinical Linguistics (EMCL++) programme. As part of that programme, Sasha spent her final semester at the BLB lab working on her internship and thesis alongside Tom Williamson. For her internship, Sasha worked on annotation of gesture experiment materials, which deepened her knowledge of non-verbal means of communication. Using these new insights, Sasha’s thesis went on to explore a new multitasking paradigm for potential use in awake brain surgeries. We designed a new combination of tasks and tested it in healthy native British English speakers.

Rachel Peal was a research assistant at the BLB Lab. Working with Tom Williamson, she supported the development of materials, study design, data analysis, and acting as a confederate, Rachel has been crucial to data collection. As a graduate UWE Psychology student, she is interested in the psychological mechanisms underlying multimodal communication and provides a psychological perspective to conceptualisation and theory development. Rachel has enjoyed developing her research design and analysis skills, which will benefit her in many future endeavours and chosen career path.